The Tylenol Murders

In order to discuss this case, it is also important to know about McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson and the producers of famous medicine "Tylenol". Tylenol was their best selling product; it was very much trusted by their consumers and they also earned huge profits from its sales in United States.

When J&J realized that their Tylenol capsules caused the deaths of four Chicagoans, they immediately initiated a recall of all Tylenol products, and spread the news by any means possible. Cars with sirens and loudspeakers drove through the city and suburbs of Chicago, urging residents to throw away any Tylenol capsules they might have. Schools were contacted, and they instructed students to bring all Tylenol products to the school nurse. News flashes were initiated to warn people of the Tylenol danger as well, and all stores were instructed to remove Tylenol products from their shelves. Removing the products was a gutsy move, not only because it was dangerous to the company by recalling so much products, but there was also a fear that the killer

According to Lewis (2006), crisis is “an interruption from previously normal state of functioning resulting in turmoil, instability, and a significant upheaval to a system” (p. 27). In other words, a crisis is a negative predictable or unpredictable event that affects the future trend of individuals, groups, organizations, and government. For instance, pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson had an unpredictable crisis in 1982 with its product Tylenol, which was laced with cyanide and led to several murders in Chicago. The events of this crisis could have changed the perception of Tylenol products. Another example of organizational crisis was the predictable 2012 Hurricane Sandy. Although companies of all sizes expected the Hurricane due to the weather forecasting, some areas in New York and New Jersey were affected worse than others. There were businesses that terminated operations for several business days. In addition to Hurricane Sandy being an organizational crisis, it was also a crisis for many families that lost power in their homes and a crisis for government departments such as FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and other agencies within local and state governments.

This happened on two occasions, the first in 1982 and the second in 1986. These episodes could have been devastating to the McNeil company by drastic decrease in consumption of the Tylenol products. The McNeil company rallied to the situation to counter this possible decrease in consumption. According to "Laurels: The National Business Hall of Fame", Tylenol's share in the one billion dollar analgesic market commanded thirty-five percent of the market before the 1982 incident. At the time of these episodes, consumer trust was damaged and market share decreased to seven percent. By February 1983, Tylenol had regained a twenty-four percent share of the market(Diary of an Amazing Comeback). In the 1990's, Tylenol again reached its thirty-five percent of the market which at this time accounted for a two billion dollar market(Laurels: The National Business Hall of Fame, Fortune). By regaining their share of the market, this demonstrated that the consumers had faith in the McNeil company's ability to produce safe and trustworthy products, i.e. Tylenol, for their comfort and happiness.

Tylenol, an over the counter prescription product from Johnson & Johnson, was one of the top brands in the analgesic market. Within the company, it was also a large income earner that commanded nearly 15% of the company’s total profits. That being the case, the 1982 crisis was not only a big blow to the brand, but also to the company as a whole. The crisis jeopardized the company’s existence; putting at risk a multi million investment which the investors had a lot of faith in. Irrespective of whether the crisis was due to malicious acts from ill motivated criminals or not, the company had to act swiftly to counter the legal issues which were ensuing and mitigate huge impending losses. It was really a trying moment for the top management of Johnson & Johnson and more so to the CEO, James Burke, who faced the toughest test of his managerial career during this time. Though the crisis was amicably solved, there were some legal issues that were imminent and some valuable lessons learnt from the episode.

The plot of the story was very mysterious Tyler and Lymin figured out who murder Boo Boo the janitor it was the principal's boy who did it . It was all about the mystery of who murder Boo Boo the janitor and how two little boys solve the mystery. Tyler and Lymin total different boys who become friends and work together to make it through life and school in order for them to survive they solve the case. They knew who the murder was they needed proof so they went to find some clues anywhere they could look for them. How they end up making more friends than they thought they could. How their were bullies and murders how close to reality it was. The plot was all about mystery and deceit and misfortune. This book describes what the real life

The problematic issue for Bristol-Myers was to position its new aspirin drug to the potential customers and decide a good price which can not only make it acceptable by the customers, but also give a fair profit to the company. In other words, the company had to formulate an effective marketing and promotional strategy for its new drug, Datril. The company was not merely willing to establish its new brand in the analgesic market; the main issue was to establish this new brand in the presence of a strong competitor, Tylenol.

he Tylenol crisis is far away from comparing with the Vioxx. In the case of Tylenol, the Johnson & Johnson Company was the victim of an unfair attack that targets its consumers in order to sabotage the company reputation. That is why the organization undertook many approaches to handle the situation in an open communication in effort to explain to the public what happened and regain the consumer’s trust. By contrast, in the Vioxx scenario, the company was the instigator of the fraud. They use manipulation and lies in order to make money regardless of people’s lives. Unlike the Johnson & Johnson Company, the Vioxx tried to hide information and force pharmacies and physicians to prescribe and sell the dangerous product. After I read the article,

Johnson & Johnson could take more money and experiment more on their products. They need to avoid any lawsuits. They do not need no more recalls or negativity towards their name. They need to spend more money testing on their products before releasing them. On the safe side, they can use people for experiments, pay them, and sign legal rights to avoid lawsuits. They will be fine if they stick to deontology theory by obligating their consumer with nothing but safe products. They stick to benefit more people they will be using the utilitarianism theory. They will be gaining their charter back with all these great things, so virtue will come in the picture. They main focus should be making sure them bringing out great quality safe products or

Towards the end of September of 1982, seven people died from a Tylenol product tampering on Chicago’s West Side. Before the events, Tylenol had over one hundred million users, and was a total frontrunner in the pain-killer industry. After the tragic events, Johnson & Johnson, parent company of McNeil Consumer Products Company which makes Tylenol, had to face the world and explain why their highly-trusted product was killing its consumers. (Markel, 2014)

In 2008, the company found out that some Motrin was not dissolving right. Scott Hensley reports, “The company halted distribution and told the agency it would make random checks of retailers’ shelves to see if a recall was warranted” () However, the Food and Drug administration found out that Johnson and Johnson did not check the Motrin bottles. Instead they used a contractor to buy all the Motrin and not to say “recall” in the stores. Scott Hensely writes that, “FDA told J&J about what some call a “phantom recall” to paper over the problems, and the company officially recalled the affected Motrin in July 2009” (). Johnson and Johnson made a poor decision in not immediately recalling the medicine.

An improper pharmaceutical product entering the business is not a new issue or concern, but the new mandates appear to be increasing the amount of attention needed to protect the public. The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), which composes Title II of the Drug Quality and Security Act, had made changes to Section 582 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The amendment to the section now mandates that all manufacturers of pharmaceutical goods, distributors, those who repackage the products, and medication dispensers to report the Food and Drug Administration, as well as trading partners (not all but certain ones) products that were determined by them to be either suspect or illegitimate within 24 hours.

The Tylenol tampering incident that occurred in the early 1980’s set off a nationwide panic once the news hit the wires. This was at a time long before the Internet and even before 24 hour news networks. This was an example of true “breaking news”. People became frantic, checking medicine cabinets and calling family and friends, warning them of the cyanide in the capsules. Johnson & Johnson, the parent company, was instrumental in contacting the media channels, providing them with details and facts about the poisoning. What Johnson & Johnson did was not only admirable, but an important part of the rebuilding trust with the consumer. The company made the immediate decision to be proactive by being truthful and getting out in front of the

According to Bhasin, K. (2011), Johnson & Johnson faced a major crisis in 1982. Someone managed to contaminate some of their extra strength Tylenol capsules with potassium cyanide. The result was the death of seven people. Johnson & Johnson responded by pulling about a hundred million dollars worth of products off of the shelves. They stopped advertising, and production was ended. Johnson & Johnson worked very closely with law enforcement, and put up a $100,000 reward to help find the killer. The company rebounded when it re-introduced Tylenol, which now had a tamper-resistant packaging system. The media was very supportive of their efforts which helped tremendously in overcoming the crisis. The two measures of success that showed their crisis management efforts were successful were gaining favor with the media, and rebounding financially.

It is also important to note the reactiveness of the team in taking drastic measures to limit the effects despite the potential costs of such actions. For one, warning the public was inherent in the action as they sought to leverage their relationships with the media to identify the risks and help reduce further deaths. Furthermore, through the immensely expensive recall of all Tylenol capsules from the Chicago area and a further total recall of capsules nationwide. During this process, the proactive way of